Homeland Security Alerts to be Broadcast on Weather Radio
the Emergency Alert System (EAS)

by Don Farkas

June 22, 2004

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which operates weather radio broadcasts, announced on Thursday, June 17, 2004, that the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security will now be added to their "all hazards" system that allows broadcasts of official warnings and alerts to be made over NOAA weather radio channels. NOAA weather radio already cooperates to carry broadcasts of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) that is operated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said retired Vice Admiral, Conrad C. Lautenbacher, NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Asmosphere.

While EAS broadcasts will continue to be operated by FEMA, which is also an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the information that may be issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will now be in addition to that. New technology will also allow the information to be broadcast locally or regionally as a text message "crawl" at the bottom of TV screens, or over local radio stations. "Critical information will now be available when most people need it," said Lautenbacher.

Lautenbacher noted that current NOAA weather radio broadcasts have the capability to trigger special, commercially available "all hazard" radio sets to automatically turn on and sound an alarm whenever properly coded warnings or alerts are broadcast. Such radio sets are already popular in areas that frequently experience tornados and hurricanes, as well as on boats and ships. Additionally, he said, these NOAA broadcasts of issued warnings or alerts can be directed to specific geographic areas where the threat has been determined to exist, as well as to specific cell phones, pagers, and computers.

The capability of the NOAA system to broadcast only to specific local or regional geographic locations, called Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME), will reportedly also soon be included in other types of consumer products such as home security systems, telephones, and battery powered remote controls, just in case regular electrical power service is interrupted. These new consumer products will reportedly be marketed with a special "public alert" logo to identify them.

Questions have been recently raised by some commentators about the ability of local public safety responders and local government agencies, usually the ones on the "front lines" in dealing with emergencies, to use the public alert system to issue timely warnings and to properly utilize the EAS.

Some fear that local public safety officials either do not currently have the required cooperation that is necessary from federal authorities, or else have not done enough to make sure they will have practiced the required procedures needed to give them the ability to quickly issue warnings or alerts in the event of emergencies. They cite the recent example of the major brush fires that occured in southern California earlier this year, when some governmental officials in San Diego County reportedly experienced confusion about who was responsible, and how to activate the EAS, to request that warnings about the approaching fire danger be broadcast to the public.

Several residents in San Diego County died as a result of not receiving timely warnings, when the fires unexpectedly reached their homes in the early hours of the morning, while the residents were sleeping. A warning system, such as the EAS, might have been useful for alerting the victims, especially those who had access to the automatic radio turn on capability that is currently available for NOAA weather radio alert broadcasts.

Other questions have been raised about the Department of Homeland Security's plans to operate its new improved electronic "public alert" system in a wide variety of consumer products. These include security issues about the potential for such a system to be improperly triggered or blocked by hackers, saboteurs, or pranksters which gain unauthorized access to the public alert system.

Other questions include concerns about what safeguards are being put in place to prevent possible improper or unauthorized use of the system such as might be attempted for personal, political, or commercial purposes.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Anyone who has any questions, comments or concerns should feel free to contact:

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Don Farkas

Chair of the ad hoc Bel Air Public Safety Advisory Committee (BAPSAC)
Former BABC NC Public Safety Committee Chairperson

Email: donfarkas@belairmail.com

Phone - (310) 472-4822

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